Forget Dinner and Drinks: 19 Quirky Date Ideas in Melbourne

It’s easy to feel this way inclined after too many bad or boring dates.

Looking for some date ideas for Melbourne? Well, it’s a great city for couples, with plenty do see and do – particularly on the more quirky side.

As you most probably know, the whole dinner and a movie (or just simply “drinks”) routine when dating can get tiring, quickly.

If you’re in a relationship, you may want to do something different once in a while, to spice things up.

If you’re single but playing the field, there is only so many times you can go through the routine of let’s-get-to-know-each-other-over-a-drink-or-two before your head feels like it’s going to explode out of boredom.

Most fortunately, there’s a tonne of fun things to do in Melbourne as a couple. Some are more culinary, others are a bit more active. Some options are versed in history and there are those with a sustainable twist.

Here are some fun and quirky date ideas for Melbourne, no matter what your preference or relationship status (ie long-term loving, or single and mingling).

It’ll give you the opportunity to hold hands with your date, if things get a little bit spooky.

Visit an Urban Winery

Victoria is known for its wine regions, but you don’t actually have to leave the city to tour a winery. In fact, you only have to travel as far as East Brunswick.

Noisy Ritual is Melbourne’s first urban winery, which started in 2014 in “Cam’s basement”.

They now offer a range of activities, allowing people to get involved in the wine-making process.

You can tour the winery, have a stomp on some grapes (could serve as couple’s therapy, perhaps?), press the wine into oak barrels or learn the theory behind the wine-making process.

I like going to the Astor as it means I get to see Duke, their pet cat.

Visit the Astor Theatre for a double feature

The Astor Theatre in St Kilda is one of the most beautiful cinemas in Melbourne (trust me, there’s a few).

It shows the odd new release, but mostly screens the films of yesteryear, often in honour of milestones (like a forty year anniversary), or the release of a new print.

The cinema regularly holds double billings (for example, I watched Alien and Aliens there earlier in the year), which could be a perfect date night for film enthusiasts. Check out the Astor’s calendar here.

…Or head to the Drive-In in Coburg

If you have a car and fancy a little bit more privacy, you can take a trip out to Coburg to see a flick at the Drive In.

You can cuddle up together in the car in the winter, or take some folding chairs or a picnic blanket with you in the summer months. Sessions can end quite late, with some movies starting at 11pm.

I thoroughly recommend heading there on Mondays as tickets are $10 a person, or $25 for a carful. If there’s four of you in a car, you won’t find any cheaper in the city.

Melbourne does look rather nice from the water.

Go for a night-time kayak along the Yarra

I often think a city is best seen from the water and Melbourne is no exception.

Turns out, you can take a tour along the Yarra River, right at sunset. As the sky darkens, you’ll see the city come to life.

This kayak tour features a meal of fish and chips for dinner (had whilst seated in the kayak!) and ends right near Federation Square, so you can go out for a bit of a drink and maybe boogie straight after.

Take a cruise down the Maribyrnong River

It’s a little bit quieter and lesser-known than the Yarra and will make for a more peaceful day out.

The novel factor alone should win you points with your date.

Dine on a train… in the sky

Do you liker burgers? Do you like trains? Well, then you’ll probably enjoy Easeys, where you can drink cocktails and chow down on burgers and hotdogs on an old train that’s been popped on the rooftop of a building in Collingwood.

Bookings are essential.

Have a game of golf… in the dark

A fun activity for a single or group date is a round of mini-golf. Melbourne has a couple of options on hand.

Holey Moley not only features a mini golf course, but has a bar to boot. The course is rather whacky in itself, which will keep you entertained.

Glow Golf is mini golf with a twist – with ten holes of the course played under UV lights.

The venue in Docklands features the smallest bar in Australia, which seats around four people at a time.

Dance to crap music for hours on end

Patrons turn up in comfortable clothing with water bottles in tow. The lights are low and the expectation is for people to dance, without worrying about what they look like or what other people think.

NLNL is held weekly, in venues around the city.

Crap Music Rave Party is, as the name suggests, a dance party where only the crappest music is played (think 80’s dance, 90’s pop music, 00’s house and such).

DJ Tomás Ford is entertaining to say the least, donning costumes and taking requests from those dancing up a storm on the dance floor.

Unlike NLNL, this event is held every couple of months or so, but if you and your date like to shake your tailfeathers on the d-floor, you’re sure to have a ball.

Contemplating digging into some chickweed.

Take an edible weeds tour

If you have an interest in urban gardening, cooking, or sustainability in general, then this could be a great date idea for you.

This two hour activity takes you along the Merri Creek, where tour leaders Adam and Annie demonstrate which weeds we can forage and add to our meals (and the health benefits of doing so), whilst advising what you should avoid at all costs (such as the very toxic Hemlock!).

If you have any suggestions of quirky date ideas in Melbourne, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. I’m always looking for fun things to do in the city, which I can drag my long-suffering boyfriend along to.

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LC can often be found nursing a cup of green tea, with her head in a book. She is a writer, video editor and professional cheese eater. Her life's aspiration is to one day live on a farm in Tasmania with 11 dogs, a Shetland pony and several pygmy goats.

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It sounds to me like you guys explored quite a bit! One thing I’ve really wanted to do is eat on the tram restaurant, but they took them off the rails a few weeks ago! Real bummer and it would’ve otherwise definitely made that list.

Leave a Reply:

Hello, my name is LC. I’m passionate about the environment, green tea, brunch (the most beloved meal of any urban Australian), travel, books and photography. This is where I write about all things sustainable, backyard travel in Oz and odd things to do and eat around the world. Oh and I’m crazy about birds.